The Academy Moves Forward

While the Academy has gained a great deal of attention for creating a credentialing process, we have also been involved in a variety of other initiatives to improve the quality of care for HIV-positive patients. Here is a list of the initiatives we have begun working on:

The Self-Directed Study Guide

Approximately 40 Academy members are currently writing the Study Guide, which will present clinical and factual information for all of the over 250 Core Curriculum Educational Objectives. This is a huge undertaking that will bring together in one place the relevant information an HIV Specialist needs to maintain up-to-date knowledge, and will also provide over 10 units of CME. We are expecting to print the Study Guide at the beginning of 2003, and members can preview samples of the Study Guide at the member meeting in September at ICAAC.

HIV/HCV Coinfection Conference

This conference took place on May 16, in San Francisco before the AASLD Conference. Along with the Academy, supporters of the conference also included the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project, the Hepatitis Foundation International, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the Hepatitis C Support Project. The Academy took part in planning the agenda, choosing the faculty, and promoting the event. The learning objectives included resolving questions about and creating current clinical guidance in the management of HIV/HCV coinfections. A final report will be issued on the results of the meeting and distributed to practitioners around the country.

Poster at the XIV International AIDS Conference

Academy member Dr. Jerry Cade's poster on the creation of the Academy has been accepted for presentation at the conference. The poster is entitled "The American Academy of HIV Medicine: a US response to the need for HIV Specialists" (abstract TuPeG5459, poster 5459). It will be displayed all day Tuesday, July 9, and Dr. Cade will be at the poster from noon until 2:00 p.m. If you are going to the conference, please stop by the poster.

Articles on Legal Issues Regarding Physicians in HIV Health Care

Academy member Dr. Brian Boyle will aid the Academy membership by writing and editing a series of articles that will cover several areas of law and HIV. Dr. Boyle is also an attorney and initiated this project. Currently, the series is planned as four articles, with the suggested topics of physician liability with AIDS drugs, physician liability and informed consent, legal issues with difficult patients, and employment issues in HIV practices. These topics could change if current issues suggest more timely topics. The articles will be published in future issues of The Nexus and on our Website at www.aahivm.org.

Expanding Our Role at ICAAC

The Academy had both a membership meeting and a booth at ICAAC in December 2001. This year we are aiming to increase our presence at ICAAC in September, with a larger and more interactive membership meeting. We will also be previewing samples of the Study Guide and reporting the results of our member survey.

Elements of Success Conference

Academy member Dr. Ross Hewitt conceived and organized this conference, to be held in December of this year. Other supporters of the conference include various AIDS education training centers, the University of California at San Francisco, the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists, the University of Alabama HIV Clinic, and the Association of Nurses in AIDSCare. The Academy has assisted in planning, choosing, and recruiting faculty and promoting the conference to our members.

The mission of the Elements of Success Conference is to provide a forum in which professionals and practitioners in the fields of human service, health care, and behavioral science can come together to examine ways to enhance adherence to antiviral regimens under a variety of circumstances. The conference will focus on state-of-the-science approaches that incorporate all the primary elements of successful adherence: the patient, the health delivery program, the health care professional, and the antiviral regimen.

Johns Hopkins Study

We are aiding the staff of Johns Hopkins University in a study of mental health issues and HIV. The study will randomly survey a number of our members, looking at codiagnosis of HIV and mental health conditions. We are pleased that Drs. Gebo and Himeloch have chosen to work with us in this project.

U.S. AIDS Conference

The Academy is proud to be a part of the U.S. Conference on AIDS, September 19-22, 2002, in Anaheim, California. The Academy will have a booth at the conference to continue to promote and explain the Academy's mission and the credentialing process.

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